Living a life that matters is fundamental for me. It's what I do. It's been my life's work thus far. I help others live a life that matters. When I think about what's important to me - it's just that. I've never really stated it this way before today but it's true. Looking back over the past 15 years, whether I was teaching my kids at St. James UMC about oreo cookies and being the light in the darkness, or I was fighting for the truth in the life of one of my drug-addicted homeless friends in San Francisco - the message has been the same - live a life that matters.
As I ponder resolutions and intentions for the New Year, it is my hope that you will make your life matter. Make it matter to you. Make it matter to me. Make it matter to your family, your friends, your community - shoot, let's make it matter to the world, too. I'm not just saying this, "I mean it!" I believe it's my job on this earth (i.e. my purpose) to help us discover the life that matters and what's even more important than that - helping us find ways to live that life! This job fulfills me - coincidentally, it makes my life matter. Isn't it funny how that works?
So, as you think about your intentions for 2010 - think about what matters to you. Let that inform your dreams, your goals, and your actions.
Once we discover the life that matters to us, it's important to live it. It's in this that we become free. It's in living the life that matters that we live out our purpose. It's where we thrive.
What matters to me:
Growing
Speaking the truth
Being authentic
Being engaged and present
Having fun
Loving well
Being loved
Nurturing others
That's it in a nutshell - pure and simple. When I'm intentional about living the life that matters to me - these elements are present. When I live in this space, life is abundant.
So, what matters to you? How will it inform your New Year's intentions? Email me and let me know what matters to you - cindy@lessdrama.com
Looking Forward,
Cindy
P.S.
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"Live Free or Die" is New Hampshire's state motto. I used to live there a long time ago and embraced this motto as my own. Indeed, when I turned 40, I declared my forties, my decade of freedom. So far, I'm living up to it. My heart longs for each of us to experience freedom - freedom to give, freedom to receive, freedom to be ourselves, freedom to live, freedom to thrive, freedom from fears, freedom to create, financial freedom...the list goes on.
Patrick Henry (one of our country's forefathers) spoke these famed words on March 23, 1775 to the House of Burgesses (the legislative body of the Virginia colony), "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"
Have you heard about a girl named Neda this week? Her name means "voice" in Farsi. She was a student heartlessly killed by a sniper on a rooftop in Tehran this past Saturday. So sad, so tragic. She had just come from singing lessons - something women in Iran are prohibited from doing in public. This week, she has become the voice of freedom for those who suffer oppression throughout the world. Social media has memorialized her:
http://tiny.cc/voiceoffreedom
I dare us to choose to live free as we remember all of those who have gone before us in the name of freedom. I dare us to release the ties that bind us - that keep us from moving forward. What's one step you can take this week toward realizing your own freedom? What thoughts ruminate around in your head that keep you bound? Is it time to replace those lies with the truth? The truth will set you free.
I thank Neda for her courage. I pray for her family and country as they mourn and fight for the freedoms we take for granted every day.
Striving to live free,
Cindy
